Chapter 1:
This is it. Danny Williams thought as he looked up at his office clock. He was determined to do this. He closed down his office, located at the police department, for the evening and locked his office door after making sure the lights were off, confidential files were away, his blinds were drawn, and his desk was tidy. He walked outside and down the steps from the building. He headed directly to his car.
He gripped the steering wheel after closing the car door. He took in a deep breath and let it out, completely nervous about what he was about to do. He wanted to do it, though. He needed to do it. Danny placed the car in reverse, backed out of his spot and took off from his work.
He arrived at a bar about 15 minutes down the road. He made sure his gun and badge were safely in his glove compartment and got out of the car. He walked into the bar and had a look around. He let out a breath, not seeing who he was there to see. He headed to the bar. He placed his arms on the bar, thinking about what to drink.
"What can I get you, sir?" The middle aged bartender asked.
Danny looked at him. "Um. . ." Something to calm me down, because I'm totally freaking out? "Scotch on the rocks?"
"You got it."
Danny gritted his teeth as he looked down at his hands. Is this a mistake? I've never felt so nervous before. Am I ready? I really want to do this. . .maybe it's more like I want a relationship. . .or a friendship. . .no. . .I just want a release. . .I just want something. . .that will get me off. . .don't I? I don't know what I want.
The bartender placed the glass on the counter in front of him.
Fuck, I don't know what I want! I'm not ready! It's been close to a year and a half since I moved here. . .Maybe I should just slip out before-
"Hey."
Danny felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at a gorgeous woman with brown eyes. Her skin was darker as was her hair. She had a pretty smile and gave off a kind vibe.
"You're Daniel, right?" She asked.
"Um. . .yeah." Danny gave her a small smile. "Kono?"
The woman nodded. "So. . .you okay to talk here?"
Danny looked around. It wasn't too crowded, but there were people at the bar. He didn't want them being overheard. "You wanna. . ." He gestured to the deck.
"Yeah, sure."
"Want anything to drink?"
Kono shook her head as one of her hands drifted up to her other arm. "I'm okay, thanks."
Danny downed his scotch and left it at the counter. He looked at the bartender. "Keep a tab open, please? We'll be here a while."
"Yes, sir. Will do."
He followed Kono, the woman that was dressed so nicely in a black dress with black high heels. They walked out onto the deck and turned to each other. There was an awkward pause. Danny had never done this before. He wasn't sure what to say. . .or what not to say.
Kono cleared her throat as she shifted her stance. "So. . .the man I was telling you about over the phone should be here any moment." She checked her watch.
"Um. . .Kono. . ." He hesitated.
Kono gazed at him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You're nervous."
Danny looked up at her.
"Everyone is with the first meet. You're not alone."
Danny chewed his lip. "I don't want to offend anyone. . ."
Kono shook her head. "You won't."
"I don't want to. . .freak anyone out."
Kono just shook her head again. "I don't think you will."
Danny continued to chew his lip. He then let out a small laugh as he placed his forearms on the railing around the deck, looking over the cliff at the ocean. "I've never done this before."
Kono smiled. "We figured." She placed her hand on his back and stroked it with her nails. The act sent shivers up Danny's spine. "I know it doesn't help much by saying this, but, don't be nervous."
Danny turned to look at her over his shoulder.
"We're not going to bite. . ." She paused as she leaned into whisper in his ear. "Well. . .we may. . .if you like that sort of thing." She added with a grin.
Danny grinned back as he felt electricity pulse through his body. This woman knew how to turn him on. "Look. . .on the phone, we talked about. . .things and I'd like to keep those things between us. . .or rather us three if you mentioned it to-"
"Oh, Daniel. Confidentiality and secrecy is what we are all about. No one will find out, no one will know, except for us."
Danny nodded. "Thank you."
Danny saw Kono turn to the bar. "And here he is." She said with a grin.
Danny stood up from the railing and turned. In the dimly lit setting, Danny watched as a man approached them. He wore nice black dress pants with a light blue dress shirt that was slightly unbuttoned at his chest. Small tuffs of brown hair peeked out and the man's cuffs were rolled up to reveal very strong looking arms. Even in the dim light, Danny could see veins bulging from his forearms. He looked tanned. . .not purposefully tanned, just. . .seasonably tanned. Like after years of hard work outside.
"Hey, doll. Sorry I'm late." The man said as he leaned into give Kono a kiss on the cheek. "Traffic was horrible."
Danny gave a small smile at the man's voice. It was husky sounding. . .music to his ears. Danny studied the man's face. He liked the man's small stubble he had going on. He had a very handsome smile going on. His lips seemed soft and smooth. He liked the man's dark eyebrows as well. Even now with the small interaction, it seemed like this guy had a lot of expression in his eyebrows. He had long eyelashes that framed his beautiful eyes. This guy seems familiar. I can't put my finger on it.
Steve had finished his greeting with a final smile and nod to Kono. He then turned to look at the man Kono was with.
Danny felt a shock run through him as those hazel eyes flashed to his. His stomach dropped and a cage opened in his chest releasing all the butterflies that began to flutter about, making his breathing slightly sporadic.
"Daniel, this is the man I've been telling you about. This is Steve." Kono said with a smile, looking at the two men as they seemed to be enchanted with each other's presence.
Steve offered his hand out. Holy crap, this is the guy Kono was telling me about? He's. . .completely. . .wow. "Daniel, lovely to meet you. My apologies for being late, I am so sorry. Forgive me."
Danny looked at the hand and back up to the man's eyes as he stared at him. The vast bluer-green hazel eyes stared back at him. The color reminded Danny of an alcoholic beverage he had tried when he first came to Hawaii. If he remembered correctly, the drink was divine. "Pleasure is all mine. And. . .no need for my forgiveness, it's. . .no problem at all." He said with a smile as he took the hand and gave it a shake. "Have we. . .met before. . .somewhere?"
Steve rose his eyebrows. "Not that I am aware of. I would've remembered those gorgeous blue eyes of yours."
Danny smiled with flattery at his words. Holy crap, this guy is such a charmer.
"Well. . .now that you've met, I'm going to have that drink." Kono said as she began to turn to go inside.
Danny shook himself from the enchantment, remembering his manners. "Um, it's alright. I can get us drinks. What would you guys like?"
Kono looked at Steve and back to Danny. "I'll have water with lemon."
"Make that two." Steve added.
Danny turned to walk inside. He reached the bar and waited for the bartender.
"What's it man?"
"Uh, 3 lemon waters, please."
"Yep."
Back outside, after Danny went to order the drinks, Kono turned to Steve. "He seems to really like you."
Steve grinned. "He seems nice."
"What were you expecting?"
Steve shrugged. "I don't know. Not a meet like this. . .usually they want us in the sack ASAP."
"Daniel seems. . .different." Kono nodded.
"Don't be fooled, Kono. All the johns and joans are the same. All they want is sex." Steve said a little too coarsely as he looked back in the bar.
"Well, if you can keep him as a regular, that would be good, right?"
Steve shook his head. "Not necessarily. People can get real freaky, real quick behind closed doors."
Kono chewed her lip. "I'm sorry you have to do this."
Steve turned to look at her.
"I know that. . .you could've said no. . .to our deal. You could've said no to this meet up. You-you could've-"
Steve shook his head. "Kono. I'm doing this because I chose to. This was my decision, okay? Remember, I brought this to the table. I wrote up our deal. . .we both signed it. . .and that's that."
Kono nodded.
"The best thing we can do now is keep this up till we don't need to anymore."
"Steve, I. . ." Kono paused. "I've been thinking a lot. About the contract. . .I feel like we need to revise it."
Steve furrowed his brows. "Why?" Why? And why is she bringing this up now?
Kono shrugged. "Even at the moment when I signed it, it didn't seem fair. And I still don't think it is."
Steve let out a breath. "Well, I don't know what you want to do about it, Kono. It's done, it's signed, it's-" He let out a breath and shook his head. "It's over."
"It's not over, Steve. You know how stubborn I can be." Kono said with annoyance.
Steve looked over at her as she stared into the bar. He smiled lightly. She looked at him and gave him a sarcastic eye roll, trying hard not to smile.
"You know I was thinking about you with that contract."
"I know. . .but now that we're. . .doing alright, there's no reason why we can't continue to go with this a little longer than anticipated in the contract and. . .help you and your situation out-"
"Kono, what's the point of a contract if we don't stick to it? If we constantly revise it or change it up?"
"It'll just be this one time. We haven't touched it at all." Kono answered him.
"Yeah, and if we make an exception this one time, we'll have to do it the next time, and the time after that."
"Steve, you're acting ridiculous."
"Can we talk about this later?" Steve asked as he saw Danny approached them with drinks in his hands.
"Steve-" Kono gritted through her teeth.
"Hey, Daniel, back so soon?" Steve asked with a killer grin. He helped Danny by grabbing one of the drinks before it slipped out of his hand.
"Pretty quiet night." Danny said with a grin.
Steve smiled back at him. He noticed that he had ordered that same drink as Kono and himself. Maybe this one is a keeper. Steve thought as he sipped his water. We'll have to wait and see.
